King's Bounty: Armored Princess Review
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The great thing about exploring in King's Bounty is that the player, who normally runs much faster than wandering stacks, usually has the ability to avoid most of them as they try feebly to follow, and therefore skirt around to pick up all of the surrounding items without entering combat. This is something that's built-in to the game and I must say it's pretty exhilarating to go deep into the middle of a new area, passing up multiple enemies you know you might have trouble with on the way back out, in order to snag all the loot and therefore increase your power. When finally you escape with those higher level creatures you just bought from a store you really "shouldn't" be at yet, it's even a bit guilty. But this type of play is encouraged.As there are many different islands to explore in the game, Armored Princess uses a system where a powerful stack of creatures stands (mostly) unmoving in order to guard the navigation charts needed to access new lands via your ship. Getting a "nav chart" is a moment to celebrate because it means you'll again have the chance to sail to all the landing spots of a new island, venture within, and pickup as much loot as possible before fighting again, in order to be ready for the more difficult combats.
Combat
Inevitably though, there's only so much new land to discover and it will come down to your stack and skills versus an enemy stack (sometimes with an enemy hero to lead them). Combat takes place in a variable hex grid (as did KB:tL) with obstacles randomly assigned, and the sizes adjustable depending on terrain. As before, your army is on the left and the enemy army is on the right. In turn-based fashion, each unit stack (the size of which is capped by your leadership number) acts according to their initiative and then has a chance to move across the battlefield and/or attack an adjacent unit, defend, use a special skill, or wait until later in the battle to act. Meanwhile once per turn (twice if your a Mage with an upgraded skill tree), you as Amelie can cast one of your many new or improved spells from the last game, minus some of the imbalances or overpowered combos that could be unleashed in KB:tL.
Combat is variable every time, tactical, never dull (unless you're prolonging it on purpose to sustain no losses), and rewarding, as it takes less experience to go up levels now than it did in KB:tL. In fact, rather than being capped at 30 (or 31) as was KB:tL, some players have reached near level 60 in Armored Princess, and were there additional fights possible, could reach even higher. This provides more opportunities to examine and assign new skills to your trees, as well as recruit more creatures due to your leadership.
Recruiting into your army is made easier than in KB:tL. From the start you're given the two additional army slots you had to buy in the previous game. This makes switching out armies and having a backup easier. It's still not perfect having to wander back to the place of purchase every level up to replenish troops, however it's only a minor complaint - it doesn't take too long in real time, and is usually not dangerous. Maybe in King's Bounty 2 there could be a method to buy more from wherever you were up to your leadership, cost dependent on how far away the shop was and modified by how naturally difficult the area is to your current level, etc. A new screen could display all available creatures of that type you've come across sorted by cost, with the name of the area above.
Finally, combat is even more compelling thanks to the use Amelie's new pet dragon, which replaces the box of rage you received in the original and plays a huge part of combat. The dragon is able to increase in levels, get new skills and upgrade them to maximize this supplement to combat. Better utility spells are included as well so that even a player who doesn't always need the pet's powers, finds ways to utilize it.
To sum up gameplay, it's addictive, fun to explore and add to your character's powers, and leaves you with a sense of accomplishment after most every battle. So how about graphics?
